11/1 ZST Swat! 30 - Results

Picture from GBR.

After 2 draws (fights going the distance) Daisuke Yokoyama gets his first win in the main event of todays Swat! 30 event.

The experienced Toshihiro Shimizu gets a good win, and I am not sure whether his opponent taped from the triangle choke or the armbar.

Main-Event:
Bantam: Daisuke Yokoyama Def. Kengo Okubo by triangle choke round 2 1:55

Light: Yusei Kawana vs. Shuya Arimura Draw
Bantam: Toshihiro Shimizu Def. Toshiyuki Yanagisawa by mounted triangle (armbar)Round 1 1:40
Feather: Shohei Kondo Def. Yutaka Inada by DQ Round 1 4:18 (Kondo was pushed out of the ring and awarded the win by DQ)
Feather: Masanori Hirata vs. Takahide Kobayashi Draw
Fly: Yoshinari Shinba vs. Toru Sakakibara Draw
Light: Yusuke Takeda Def. Makoto Sasaki by TKO (doctor stop) Round 2 1:23
Welter: Tatsuya Obitsu Def. Sadayuki Watanabe by arm-trinagle choke Round 2 4:20
Fly: Hiroyuki Naito Def. Masashi Kogo by rear-naked choke Round 1 3:52
Feather: Yoji Nakamura vs. Tetsuya Yoshioka Draw
Feather GT-F Rule (Grappling): Hitoshi Makino Def. Ippei Kuramoto by heel-hook Round 1 2:12

Discuss in the FORUM

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5/15 KSW Martial Arts Confrontation - Pictures

Courtesy of KSW, here are some pictures from their event in Warsaw on May 15.

It was a very good event, and KSW are attracting some very good and talented fighters. The fight everyone talked about after this event was the Mamed Khalidov vs. Daniel Acacio. Khalidov is said to be in negotiations with DREAM, and after the performance here, I hope we see him in Japan soon.

But there were some very entertaining fights in the tournament as well. Vitor Nobrega showed that he is one to watch for the future, making his way to the final in December by finishing 2 fighters in 5:35. He will face the undefeated and equally impressive Aslambek Saidov in the final.

Read on for some action shots.

Vitor Nobrega vs. Lukasz Christ


Artur Kadlubek vs. Sergei Nikitin




Aslambek Saidov vs. Michele Verginelli







Krzysztof Sadecki vs. Andre Reinders








Lukasz Jurkowski vs. Atila Vegh






Antoni Chmielewski vs. Michael Knaap


Mamed Khalidov vs. Daniel Acacio






Vitor Nobrega vs. Artur Kadlubek


Aslambek Saidov vs. Lukasz Christ




Group shot

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5/15 KSW Martial Arts Confrontation - RESULTS

KSW put on a very good card last night. As usual there was a 8-Man tournament on the card, the final will be held in December and it will be between Vitor Nobrega vs. Aslanbek Saidov.

The fight that got all the attention before the event was KSW fighter Mamed Khalidov who took on Pride veteran Daniel Acacio. Khalidov was able to do some damage with his knees in the clinch and Acacio went down early. A very good win for the Polish fighter in front of his home crowd.

8-Man Tournament:
Vitor Nobrega Def. Lukasz Christ by Arm-Triangle choke Round 1 2:03
Artur Kadlubek Def. Sergei Nikitin by Decision 3-0
Aslanbek Saidov Def. Michael Verginelli by Decision 3-0
Krzysztof Sadecki Def. Andre Reinders by Decision (ext) 3-0

Non-Tournament Fights:
Lukasz Jurkowski Def. Atila Vegh by Decision 3-0
Antoni Chmielewski Def. Michael "Hammer" Knaap by Decision 3-0
Mamed Khalidov Def. Daniel Acacio by KO Round 1 1:10

Tournament Sem-Finals:
Vitor Nobrega Def. Artur Kadlubek by Arm-Triangle choke Round 1 3:32
Aslanbek Saidov Def. Lukasz Christ by Armbar Round 4:53

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5/9 M-1 Challenge Brazil 4th Edition - Live Stream

The M-1 Challenge Stream should be here. Due to broadcast rights it will not be available from the US and Korea, courtesy of M-1 Global.

The stream should start at:
Tokyo: 8:00AM (10th)
St. Petersburg 3:00AM (10th)
Helsinki 2:00AM (10th)
Paris: 1:00AM (10th)
London: 0:00 (midnight)
Sao Paulo 8:00PM

These are the fights:
Bulgaria vs. Benelux
1. -70kg: Yanko Yanev 6-1-0 vs. 6-4-3 Dan van Bergen
2. -76kg: Ivan Ivanov 4-1-0 vs. 9-8-0 Raymond Jarman
3. -84kg: Jordan Radev 18-4-0 vs. Danny Smit
4. -93kg: Emil Samoilov vs. 8-6-0 Jason Jones
5. +93kg: Nikola Dipchkov vs. 6-2-0 Jessie Gibbs

Russia Legion vs. Germany
6. -70kg: Yura Ivlev 6-5-0 vs. 11-3-0 Franco de Leonardis
7. -76kg: Magomed Shihshabekov 2-0-0 vs. 2-3-0 Sven Heising
8. -84kg: Sergey Kornev 5-0-0 vs. 4-1-0 Gregor Herb
9. -93kg: Gadzimyrat Omarov 3-0-0 vs. 2-0-0 Ismail Centinkaya
10. +93kg: Akhmed Sultanov 3-3-0 vs. 1-2-0 Lars Klug

Brazil vs. Team Imperial
11. -70kg: Hacran Dias 10-0-1 vs. 1-0-0 Amirkhan Mazikhov
12. -76kg: Eduardo Pamplona 10-2-0 vs. 9-9-0 Erik Oganov
13. -84kg: Leandro Silva 13-5-0 vs. 7-3-1 Dmitry Samoilov
14. -93kg: Alexander Machado vs. 8-2-0 Mikhail Zayats
15. +93kg: Joaquim Ferreira de Rocha vs. 2-1-0 Maksim Grishin



I have done my best to make the stream work, in case it doesnt, you should find M-1's stream here.

These are the standing in the M-1 Challenge before the event in Brazil:

Group A
Team - Overall Won-Loss/Fights Won-Loss
1. England: 1-0 Fights Won-Lost: 4-1
2. Spain: 1-0 Fights Won-Lost: 3-2
3. France: 0-1 Fights Won-Lost: 2-3
4. Japan: 0-1 Fights Won-Lost: 1-4

GROUP B
1. USA West: 2-0 Fights Won-Lost: 8-2
2. South Korea: 1-1 Fights Won-Lost: 3-7
3. Team Brazil Naja: 0-1 Fights Won-Lost: 2-3
3. Imperial of Russia: 0-1 Fights Won-Lost: 2-3

GROUP C
1. USA East: 1-0 Fights Won-Lost: 5-0
2. Finland: 1-0 Fights Won-Lost: 4-1
3. Benelux: 0-1 Fights Won-Lost: 1-4
4. Bulgaria: 0-1 Fights Won-Lost: 0-5

GROUD D
1. Germany: 1-0 Fights Won-Lost: 5-0
2. Russia Legion: 1-0 Fights Won-Lost: 4-1
3. World Team: 0-1 Fights Won-Lost: 1-4
4. Turkey: 0-1 Fights Won-Lost: 0-5

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4/25 The Zone FC - Results

The Zone FC put on a 13 fight card in Gothenburg, Sweden last night. Usually, as I write about fights in Japan, there are lots of decisions. On this card, none of the fights went the distance. Of course, there can be many reasons for that, but it usually means that the crowd is entertained.

Results:
Martin Svensson Def. Henning Svendsen by Triangle Choke Round 1 1:18
Alexander Prodèr Def. Peter Engdahl by legbar Round 1 4:27
Christoffer Svensson Def. Jens Östling by Peruvian neck tie Round 1 3:59
Anton Mattsson Def. Jeppe Fausing by TKO Round 1 2:45
Åke Bergvall Def. Michael Böbner by rear-naked choke Round 1 3:49
Jakub Bugaj Def. Peter Enbom by TKO Round 1 3:37
Besam Yousef Def. Pavel Nakonieczny by TKO Round 1 0:13
Panikos Kleanthous Def. Marko Gyllenland by TKO Round 2 0:08
Cole Lauritsen Def. Ståle Nyang by TKO Round 2 3:10
Mats Nilsson Def. Magnus Cedenblad by rear-naked Choke Round 1 3:49
Victor Cheng Def. Daniel Engström by Bull dog choke Round 1 2:21
August Wallen Def. Karim Mammar by rear-naked choke Round 1 3:35
Vladimir Kuchenko 0-3-0 vs. 1-0-0 Eddy Bengtsson No Result Available Yet

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4/25 The Zone FC ***UPDATE***

***UPDATE 3***
-Ivaylo Markov is out due to pneumonia, he will be replaced by Vladimir Kuchenko. He will take on Eddy Bengtson at late notice.
-Mark Lahjner has been forced to withdraw due to injury, he will be replaced by Mats Nilsson.
-The tickets are selling fast, ringside seats are sold out! If you have managed to get your tickets, dont miss the official party taking place at Berså starting at 22:30.


***UPDATE 2***
-The injury to Alexander Gustafsson's knee is confirmed to keep him out of action for several weeks. That means that his fight with Arunas Andriuskevicus will not happen. No word on finding a replacement.

-Elina Nilson, who was set to face Melissa Lan, has suffered an injury during practice and that fight has also been cancelled.

***UPDATE***
There has been some updates to this card, positive and negative...
-Elina Nilson is set to face Melissa Lan in the female fight of the night.
-Swedish fighter August Wallen is set to face Frenchman Karim Mammar.
-The BIG news: The main fight on this card is in jeopardy. Sherdog had it listed as one of the fights to watch out for in April. Alexander Gustafsson was set to face Arunas Andriuskevicus, but received a minor injury during training. He will undergo an arthroscopy early next week to determine whether he is fit to fight or not.
-As you can see by the comments, Ivaylo Markov has also had to pull out. Hopefully they will find a replacement.


Moving back to Norway does mean some changes, one of them being that I am going to try to stay on top of European MMA as well. The site will still be dedicated to Japanese MMA, but I think European events deserve more attention as well.

April 25 The Zone FC is holding an event in Gothenburg Sweden. If you are in the area, its in Lisebergshallen. Lots of talented fighters on the card and it should be fun night. Unfortuantely I wont be able to make it this time, but hopefully for the next one!

I do realize that Sherdog might not have the complete records for european fighters (something I have noticed before), but I am using their records.

Michael Böbner 2-1-0 vs. 2-3-0 Åke Bergvall
Jeppe Fausing vs. Anton Mattsson
Martin Svensson 2-0-0 vs. 3-1-0 Henning Svendsen
Peter Engdahl 3-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Alexander Prodèr
Pavel Nakonieczny vs. 2-0-0 Besam Yousef
Christoffer Svensson 1-0-0 vs. 2-0-0 Jens Östling
Jakub Bugaj 0-1-0 vs. Peter Enbom
Daniel Engström 2-0-0 vs. 1-1-0 Victor Cheng
Mats Nilsson 1-0-0 vs. 2-2-0 Magnus Cedenblad
Panikos Kleanthous 0-1-0 vs. Marko Gyllenland
Ståle Nyang 7-2-0 vs. 2-2-0 Cole Lauritsen
August Wallen 4-2-0 vs. 3-3-1 Karim Mammar
Vladimir Kuchenko 0-3-0 vs. 1-0-0 Eddy Bengtsson

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K-1 World GP Ring-Girls

My piece on the Sengoku Ring-girls was one of the more popular post that I have made (no kidding)... If you missed it, its here.

From that we learned that the ring-girls normally do more than carry signs around, and hopefully we get to learn a bit more about what the K-1 girls does as well.

From left: Saki Akai, Maki Issou, Eri Sakai and Eriko Fujimoto.



Saki Akai, born January 24 1987, have 3 videos out, there are "idol" type, which means running around in bikinies etc. There is a huge market for these type of videos in Japan, but I never really got into it. She is also a model, and was one of the santa girls on a Tempur exhibition. Here are some more picutres of her in action.









DVD Covers:





Maki Issou, born March 15 1989, also has 2 videos idol videos out. She has been a swimsuit model, and is from Ishikawa prefecture. Maki was also on the cover of Funride magazine in December 2008. Here are some pictures of her.







DVD Covers:





Eri Sakai, born September 28 1986, is an accomplished model, winning "Miss" type competitions in Japan. She also has 5 DVDs out, I have been able to find the cover of 2 and the back of 1 of them. She also likes dressing up for Christmas.









DVD Covers:







Eriko Fujimoto, born August 2 1981, is a very different kind of model, and was Japan's representative in the 2004 Miss World competition. She has also been on several TV shows in Japan. Here are some pictures of her.

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UPDATES: DREAM and Sengoku sign Fighters

I am finally back in Norway, and there were some big updates from DREAM and Sengoku while I was in the air. I thought I would just group them together here.

DREAM
GracieMag is reporting that Murilo Ninja has signed for DREAM and will fight on the DREAM 8 card scheduled for April 5. He is currently in training in Brazil, where he is working with his brother (sherdog has an article on the preparations here). "Ninja"'s opponent for his return to Japan is said to be a Korean fighter.


Of course DREAM 8 will feature the 1st round of the DREAM 8-man welterweight GP, still 4 spots open in that.

Sengoku
-The signing of the very talented grappler Leonardo Santos is not news, but Sengoku have now announced his first fight. It will take place at Sengoku 8, May 2. The opponent is the very experienced Kazunori Yokota.

-Also announced for the event is Xande Ribeiro against Keiichiro Yamamiya.

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Shooto March Rankings

Only minor changes this month, mainly due to the fights at the first Gig Tokyo event in Shinjuku Face.

Most notably, flyweight ranked #2 Shinya Murofushi suffered his first loss.

The welterweight division saw unranked Kenichiro Togashi defeat #3 ranked Ganjo Tentsuku.

Flyweight:
Champion: Open

1. → Ramba “M-16” Somdet
2. ↑ Noburo "Shinpei" Tahara
3. ↑ "Heat" Takeshi Sato
4. ↓ Shinya Murofushi
5. ↓ Takehiro Harusaki
6. ↓ Atsushi Takeuchi
7. ↓ Hiroaki Yoshioka

"Heat" Takeshi submitted #2 ranked Shinya Murofushi at GIG Tokyo Vol. 1 and comes in at #3, "Shinpei" Tahara climbs into the vacant #2 spot.


Bantamweight:
Champion: → Shinichi “BJ” Kojima
-From October 14 2006, Defended 3 times against Mamoru, Akagi and Urushitani

1. → Yuki Shoujou
2. → Ryuichi Miki
3. → Yasuhiro Urushitani
4. → Junji Ikoma
5. → Mamoru Yamaguchi
6. → Jucie Formiga
7. ↑ Shimokawa Yusei
8. ↑ Jesse Taitano
9. ↓ Masatoshi Abe
10. → Yasuhiro Akagi

Masatoshi Abe has not fought for a year and a half and is moved down in the ranking.


Featherweight:
Champion: → Masakatsu Ueda
-From March 28 2008, Defended 1 Time against Galvao

1. → Eduardo Dantas
2. → Marcos “Louro” Galvao
3. → Daniel Lima
4. → Koetsu Okazaki
5. → So Tazawa
6. → Atsushi Yamamoto
7. → Hiromasa Ogikubo
8. → Kenji Osawa
9. → Junya "Kodo" Kudo
10. → Tetsu Suzuki

No Change


Lightweight:
Champion: → “Lion” Takeshi Inoue
-From November 29 2008.

1. → Akitoshi Tamura
2. → Hatsu Hioki
3. → Hideki Kadowaki
4. → Antonio Carvalho
5. → Savant Young
6. → Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura
7. → Renan Barao
8. → Bao Quach
9. → Rumina Sato
10. → David Lejenas




Welterweight:
Champion: → Takashi Nakakura
-From May 3 2008 Defended 0 times)

1. → Yusuke Endo
2. → Willamy Chiquerim "Chiqueirinho"
3. ↑ Bendy Casimir
4. ↑ Kenichiro Togashi
5. ↓ Ganjo Tensuku
6. ↓ Hamid Corassani
7. → Grzegorz Trendowski
8. ↑ Mizuto Hirota
9. ↑ Koutetsu Boku
10. ↓ Jani Lax

Kenichiro Togashi gets a strong win against Ganjo Tentsuku at Gig Tokyo vol. 1 and climbs into 4th spot. Brian Cobb goes out of the ranking due to inactivity.


Middleweight:
Champion: → Shinya Aoki
-From February 17 2006, defended 0 times

1. → David Baron
2. → Xavier Lucas
3. → Wim Deputter
4. → Niek Tromp
5. → Igor Fernandes
6. → Zelim Felican
7. → Roemer Trumpert
8. → Hernani Perpetuo
9. → Akihiro Yamazaki
10. → Tommy Depret

No Change


Light-Heavyweight:
Champ: → Siyar Bahadourzada (From July 15 2007, defended 0 times)

1. → Leandro Silva
2. → Akihiro Murayama
3. → Andre Silva
4. → Sauli Heilimo
5. → Grazhuydas Smailis
6. → Masashi Yozen
7. → Nathan Schouteren
8. → Petras Morkevicius
9. → Rolandas Agrba
10. → Shiko Yamashita

No Change

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2/23 K-1 World MAX Japan Tournament - Pictures

Monday I went out to enjoy the K-1 in Yoyoki Gymnasium. I got a seat in the budget dating section, but still enjoyed the show and got some pretty good pictures.



The event really had it all, staredowns, KOs, blood, entertaining entrances, fighters dressing up as girls and, eventually, a deserved winner.

Shingo Garyu (black shorts) vs. Hiroyuki Owatari




Hiroya (Red Gloves) Vs. Kizaemon Saiga




Nagajima☆Jienotsu☆Juichiro (white shorts) vs. HAYATO




TATSUJI vs. Yuya Yamamoto


Yasuhiro Kido (blue gloves) vs. Hinata Watanabe


Taishin Kohirumaki vs. Andy Ologun




Albert Kraus Def. Lee Soo Hwan




Nagajima☆Jienotsu☆Juichiro enterance






Yuya Yamamoto (yellow shorts) vs. Nagajima☆Jienotsu☆Juichiro


Taishin Kohirumaki vs. Yasuhiro Kido (white shorts)




Daisuke Uematsu (red shorts) vs. Kazuhisa Watanabe




Yoshihiro Sato vs. Sergey Golyaev




Yuya Yamamoto (red gloves) vs. Taishin Kohirumaki




The winner Taishin Kohirumaki

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